Today's News

Yes, it has 50 stars in a field of blue, seven red stripes and six white stripes.
But one of the two American flags now hanging inside Leigh Anne’s Restaurant is anything but typical.
It flew at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on Sept. 11, 2010.
Special flags go to special people on special occasions, said U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Jason Sims. A Lancaster native, Sims is attached to the 1222nd Sappers Combat Engineers based in Fort Mill.
“Our job is to find it (explosives) before it finds us,” Sims said.

Among the 60 people or so who attended Tuesday night’s public hearing on Duke Energy’s request for a rate increase, everyone agreed that nobody wants to see their electric bill go up.
And that’s where the consensus ended.
Sponsored by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC) at University of South Carolina Lancaster, the hearing was the second of four public hearings in Duke Energy’s Palmetto State coverage area.

The time has finally arrived.
After years of visions and plans, and months of construction, the Heath Springs Area Veterans Monument is ready to be dedicated.
The dedication ceremony will be 2 p.m. Saturday at the monument site, the corner where the old water tower once stood, facing North Main Street in Heath Springs.
The event is open to the public.
“Everything has fallen into place,” said David Williams, president of the local association that spearheaded the effort.

United Way
of Lancaster County
The United Way of Lancaster County seeks funding partnerships with nonprofit organizations and agencies that operate programs with positive, measurable results on the following key community building issues:
Education - assisting children, youth and adults reach their potential through education
Income - helping families become financially stable and independent
Health and safety - developing a healthy and safe community

Jesef Williamsjwilliams@thelancasternews.com
Members of Founders Federal Credit Union will have a little extra money in their accounts for the holiday season.
Founders is once again sharing its extra earnings with those who borrow from and save with the Lancaster-based financial institution. And this time around, Founders is returning $10 million – the largest dividend distribution in the credit union’s history.
The official announcement came today.

The family of 3-year-old Jaylen Jackson sat quietly as the jury filed back into the courtroom Thursday afternoon.
After a tense morning, filled with descriptions of the day the toddler was shot and killed after being caught in the crossfire of a gunfight last year, her family waited anxiously for a verdict in the first of two trials involving her murder.